Twitter, NBC, Fox wrongly report congressman is dead

Florida Rep. C.W. Bill Young, 82, the longest-serving House Republican, is "gravely ill" and being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the Tampa Bay Times reported Thursday. But that, unfortunately, didn't prevent the premature news of his death from spreading on Twitter, Fox and NBC.

With Young surrounded by family and friends at the hospital, Twitter quickly worked its way through the error and reminded journalists and re-tweeters once again to get it right.

No. This is journalism 101, folks. Everyone makes mistakes, but the bar for reports of someone's death must be very, very high. Just don't say people are dead unless it's proven fact. And let's not retweet death rumors unless we know a person has died. Otherwise, this may be you next time: